Motherhood, Married Life and All Things Spliced: A UK Family and Lifestyle Blog

Living the Pipe Dream at Millie’s Beach Huts

Mrs Lighty has long had a little pipe dream. It’s a little dream that bubbles away under the surface, as I gather ideas and thoughts on how I’d like to implement the pipe dream one day. Most of these ideas tend to end up on my Pinterest board dedicated entirely to this dream, aptly titled with a hopeful “One Day…”. This dream is mostly squirreled away, occasionally getting a passing mention in conversations with friends and family. And then one day recently, I get a little taster of this pipe dream. You see, we were lucky enough to have visited the new beach hut in Felixstowe belonging to Millie’s Beach Huts.

Yep, Mrs Lighty’s dream is to one day own a beach hut or a holiday home of her very own. Preferably both. I’m not fussy!! So when we were invited to spend a day at the new hut owned by Millie’s Beach Huts in Felixstowe, it very nearly was a dream come true for Mrs Lighty! The night before our visit, as I packed a picnic lunch for us to take with us, I remarked to Mr Lighty that it felt a bit like we were off on our holidays the next day. It was that delicious sense of anticipation, I suppose. We’d never been to a beach hut before, and I didn’t know what to expect. And I can now say that Millie’s Beach Huts have exceeded our expectations.

The majority of Millie’s Beach Huts are located in Walton-on-the-Naze, on the North-Essex coast. We’d been to Walton previously and loved it, and so I’d been eyeing up a beach hut visit for a while. But our beach hut visit was to be to Felixstowe, just across the border in Suffolk. I think this added to the sense of holiday excitement, as we were leaving our home county for the day and visiting the county where I dream of having a holiday home!

A little beach hut called Abbie…

We set off nice and early, as the hire was available from 9:00am, arriving at about 10:30am after our hour and a half’s drive from home. Parking was easy, and we managed to park right behind our hut. At the time of writing, parking is a very reasonable £3.50 for the day in the pay and display carpark directly behind the huts.

I know I’m probably biased having been for a lovely visit there now, but on reflection, Abbie is definitely the prettiest hut in the row. Its beautiful pink and blue tones make it stand out from the crowd of white, blue and brown huts around it, and it gives its visitors a really jolly welcome. All of this, and then you open the doors of this little hut and find a veritable treasure trove inside!

Our first glance inside Abbie.

So pretty!!

We were the first visitors to Abbie, and we were blown away by the level of detail within the hut. Decked out in pink, blue and yellow ice cream shades, no detail has been spared: from Cath Kidston crockery through to cute little ornaments; children’s books and games through to a blanket to snuggle up in. It really was love at first sight!

A veritable treasure trove!

We loved the level of detail!

One of the details that we really appreciated was the gas stove and kettle. No time was spared in putting a brew on, and once the fold out table and chairs were set up, we settled down to a cuppa and a biscuit with a sea view.

The kettle and stove were very much appreciated!

Enjoying his very own cuppa outside the hut!

We loved the fact that Abbie is located on the promenade. The huts themselves are built on a slightly sandy area, which meant that Baby Lighty could get to work with digging straight away while we finished our cuppa. It was so peaceful watching the world go by!

After buying a bucket and spade set, it was time to hit the beach! We really appreciated having the hut as a base to change Baby Lighty into his swimwear (complete with hoodie to guard against the May winds!). We then set up camp on the beach just in front. At nearly two years old, he really got into the swing of sandcastling, as did Mr Lighty, who decided to make a moat and tunnel! We did laugh when Mr Lighty was caught out by the tide coming in a lot quicker than expected and collapsed his moat! Luckily Baby Lighty was slightly further back on the beach, safe and sound!

Getting his dig on!

Wave dodging…

Busy moat building!

Lots of hard work digging later, Baby Lighty was starting to tire, so we retired back to our beach hut for a rest. There was enough room to pop Baby Lighty in his buggy, and for us to sit inside with him (and have another cuppa). We timed our rest well, as the heavens decided to open at this point! We loved having somewhere to shelter from the rain. On any other trip to the seaside, this could’ve spelled the end of our day. At Millie’s Beach Huts, we could sit safe and sound and watch the world go by until the rain passed.

Once it had passed, we decided to go for a wander to take in the local area. As I’ve already mentioned, we didn’t know Felixstowe, so it was nice to explore. We found Felixstowe to be your typical seaside town. Although it had a faded glamour feel to it in parts, we actually really liked how traditional the town was. There were many aspects that we remembered from our childhood, such as the Sooty Show machine. There’s also a little market to the rear of one of the arcades, with some quirky shops around the perimeter.

An old fashioned Sooty Show machine.

There were some quirky shops in the market!

We took our time exploring and also had a go on the two pence drops. Baby Lighty has definitely inherited our love of the British Seaside with the way he took to the penny drops! Located just down from the beach huts, there’s also a children’s park. It was really well equipped, and Baby Lighty had a great time running around and clambering on and off of the play equipment.

Baby Lighty soon got the hang of the penny drops…!

Who says Baby Lighty has to have all the fun?!

By this point, it was nearing the end of our day. Having taken a picnic lunch and eaten it in the beach hut, we opted for fish and chips for dinner. When in Felixstowe, and all that. By the time we returned to the beach huts, we were the last ones left on the row. It was really peaceful and cosy to sit in our hut with another cuppa (!) and our fish and chips, looking out to sea. The perfect finish to our day!

Chippy dinner!

Vicky really has thought of everything when it comes to the beach huts. This included details such as colouring books and toys for the children, and Baby Lighty happily sat colouring while we packed up. We had had the forethought to bring his pyjamas with us, and therefore got him changed just before leaving. I think the fact that he happily snuggled up on the beach hut’s bench seating as we packed the last few bits away showed how at home he felt and what a fantastic day he’d had!

Cuddled up on the bench of the beach hut at the end of the day.

We really couldn’t fault our first visit to Millie’s Beach Huts, and I’m certain that this won’t be our last visit. We’ve fallen in love with beach hut life. If I didn’t want a beach hut before our visit to Millie’s Beach Huts, then I definitely, one hundred percent do now! I’ll keep on saving, and in the meantime, there are always these very special beach huts awaiting our booking…

Thank you to Millie’s Beach Huts for a fantastic day!

Disclaimer: we were kindly given a free visit to Millie’s Beach Huts in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you enjoy reading All Things Spliced, I would be completely chuffed if you could nominate Mrs Lighty in the Readers’ Choice category of the BiB Awards! Please click on the badge below and complete the form, my full web address is http://allthingsspliced.co.uk and my Twitter handle is: @MrsLighty. I will love you forever and will send (virtual gluten free) cake!

Our dream started to evolve way back in about 2000 when we started to talk about how wonderful it would be to have our own holiday home. A sanctuary filled with our own familiar stuff, where we could just descend whenever we needed to and immediately melt into that holiday feeling. We dreamed; we visualised; we collected pictures; we talked to people who’d done it; we read reams about it; we even became slightly worryingly obsessed with Jasmine Harman. Because our dream was to have our own place in Spain, and on 17th May 2013, we realised that dream. We worked flaming hard. There were tears. There was sweat. There were even a few loving altercations, but eventually we did it. And now, looking back at the slog, boy can we pat ourselves on the back. So, whatever your dream; wherever your desired bolt hole may be, you CAN do it. Back in 2000 we hadn’t a clue HOW we’d do it, we just KNEW we WOULD do it. That’s faith for you: knowing what you hope for, and being certain of what you do not see. It’s true of anything you desire: visualise it; work towards it and keep the faith and one day, you WILL get what you want. Good luck Mrs L & Co. !!!!

Aww Sarah this is such a lovely comment, thank you! You and Mr Mac, as he shall be called, totally deserve your bolthole. You have both worked bloody hard for it, that is for certain!! Also, didn’t your holiday home come with more than just an obsession with Jasmine Harman?! Didn’t it, or doesn’t it still, come with the likes of cat food and spanners other strange items that a certain copywriter of yours loves to have listed before each trip stashed into your hold luggage?! Thanks so much for stopping by, your comment means a lot to me xxx

What a coincidence, we were there this weekend too! I LOVED Abbie, so pretty! Also had a fab little children’s play park further down the promenade which Miss O loved,and some of the best chips I’ve had in a long time! Fab day out! x

Yes the play park was excellent wasn’t it? We said it was so well equipped (both the hut and the park!!). What a small world that you were there this weekend too! Glad you loved it as much as we did! ☺️

Oh Nic this is the cutest beach hut I’ve ever seen! So colourful and bright, really gorgeous how it’s been decorated. It looks like you had such a wonderful time, I will make it to the Essex coast one day 🙂 Thanks for linking up to #dreamteam xx

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